Wednesday, 6 February 2013

February Collage Photo Festival - Day 6

Today's picture is of my Great Grandmother, Annie Prudence Butcher nee Harris. This was taken in 1953 and was the photograph she used in her Christmas card for that year. It was obviously taken in the summer in her garden which she loved. Green fingers are a trait that runs in part of the family, sadly not as far as me though!

By this point Granny, as she was known was already a widow. Her husband, my Great Grandfather, Charles Butcher died in December 1943 and my Grandfather was given a month of compassionate leave from his army service in Sierra Leone to come home and pay his respects to his father.

As we research and collate the material we discover, I think we forget that all the basic emotions we feel were felt by previous generations. How must my Grandfather have felt, as he made his way from Africa back to England? A long way by modern standards, and even longer in 1943. The feeling of helplessness, and of course grief. Did he reflect on his last conversation with his father? Wonder how his mother was? She was not alone, as her other children remained in the area and her remaining 3 sons were working on the farm the family had farmed at since 1930.

In this photograph, Granny is in her early 70s and she was to live another 20 years, but more of that later in the month.

2 comments:

It is so true that we should try to walk in our ancestor's shoes emotionally not just in terms of data. I thought it was interesting that he was able to travel so far and be given the time in the midst of war. How lovely that your Reat Granny used this same photo.

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About Me

I am a Surrey girl, who is very proud of her roots, which go back almost 300 years in Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire. I currently live in the West Country of England, but Surrey is always home! I am also half Italian and thus have an interest in Italian culture and genealogy.

After a career in pharmacy management spanning more than 20 years, I made the decision to look at my options as to where my professional life was heading. I wanted to expand my work portfolio within the training and writing arena; to utilise my historical and research skills along with other qualifications and years of experience. I created The Book of Me, Written by You back in the Autumn of 2012. It threads together the focus of my interests and qualifications. Enabling me to encourage others to think beyond the obvious as we analyse our own lives and those of our close family members.

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